Mary
Emma Allen has been a columnist since 1964 and has written many columns
for newspapers and magazines. These include cooking, history, book reviews,
restaurant reviews, gardening, quiltmaking, consumer topics, children's
stories and activities, homespun philosophy, travel, and marriage. Currently
she writes "Country Kitchen" for newspapers in New Hampshire
and Utah, "Refunder's Hotline" for a New Hampshire newspaper,
and a marriage column for The Oasis, an online Christian publication.
Mary Emma Allen also is a book author and newsletter editor/publisher.
MARY EMMA ALLEN'S BOOK AMONG TOP 10
(PLYMOUTH, NH) - Mary Emma Allen's book, WRITING IN MAINE, NEW HAMPSHIRE
& VERMONT, was named on Carolyn Howard-Johnson's list of Top 10
Books for Writers. Howard-Johnson also placed a review of this resource
book for writers, publishers, librarians, and educators at Amazon.com.
This book, published by Writer's World Press, gives resources for writers,
publishers, librarians and those interested in writing and publishing,
whether they live in the Tri-States area or in other parts of the country.
"This little volume makes an excellent addendum to any book an
author might presently be using as a resource," said Ms. Howard-Johnson,
the award-winning author of "This Is the Place" and a familiar
name among book reviewers.
Check out Mary Emma Allen's Web Site for more cooking information and
recipes. http://homepage.fcgnetworks.net/jetent/mea
She also writes "Teacher to Teacher," a column for teachers,
homeschooling parents, and parents who are encouraging young writers.
This appears on the Rising Writers site: www.writingcorner.com/rising/main.htm
E-mail: me.allen@juno.com
Photo by Caron Gonthier

APPLE CIDER TIME OF YEAR

Apple cider as a beverage and cooking ingredient has been popular in
New England since colonial days. Next to water, cider was the most abundant
and cheapest beverage, especially at apple harvest time.

Homemakers served cider at meals and offered it to guests. Apple cider
was used for barter, as noted in an early 1800 diary, "one-half
barrel of cider for Mary’s schooling."

According to newspaperman Horace Greeley, cider was very abundant and
cheap in New Hampshire when he lived there. It often sold for one dollar
a barrel.

The Cider Age

Colonial days sometimes were called the "cider age" in American
history. It’s said that during this era more applejack (hard cider)
than corn whiskey was available for the frontiersman.

When the temperance movement flourished in America in the 1830s, teetotalers
were determined to stamp out the evils of hard cider. It’s said
they took up their axes and whacked away at whole orchards, with little
thought of the delicious apple pies, baked apples, and applesauce they
also were eliminating.

Various Groups Used Cider

The Pennsylvania Dutch favored apple cider for their own consumption,
to sell, and for making vinegar and apple butter.

The Shakers, that communal religious sect of the 1800s, also made delicious
cider which they used in their communities and sold to outsiders. These
perfectionists made cider only from the best apples, not from the culls,
drops or bruised ones. This perhaps made their cider so outstanding.

Their cider was made from the crushed apples, then passed through a
straw sieve and allowed to run off into barrels. The barrels then were
placed in a cool cellar. After the Shakers advocated total abstinence
from alcoholic beverages, they pasteurized their sweet cider to prevent
fermentation.

Cider doesn't need to be used solely as a beverage. Many recipes developed
during the cider era called for this liquid as one of the ingredients.
Variation of these recipes have been adapted for modern cooks.

HARVESTING SEEDS FROM
YOUR GARDEN

Some of the seeds in your garden are edible, others used for next spring’s
planting. In days ago, when the pioneers gathered the last vegetables,
they were concerned about harvesting seeds to use the following season.

Nowadays, the majority of gardeners simply purchase their seeds. However,
some may want to save seeds and experience gardening the way of their
ancestors.

Among those that are easy to save for next year’s planting are
radish, mustard, spinach, lettuce, endive, Chinese cabbage, tomatoes,
cucumbers, melons, squash, pumpkin, peas, beans, peppers, French marigolds,
and many herbs.

Harvesting Steps

When harvesting seeds, your aim is to get the best ones possible. So
you should save the seeds from the best plant, not necessarily from
the best fruit. It’s said that with leafy plants, such as lettuce,
you should collect the seeds from the plants that take the longest to
go to seed. With root plants, choose those which bolt first (flower
or produce seeds prematurely).

With radishes and leafy plants, let the seed stalk form. Then cut the
entire stalk when it and the seed pods are brown and dry. Place the
stalks in a plastic or large paper bag and beat them lightly with a
stick to break the pods. Pour the seeds from the bag and pick out any
remaining chaff.

Some Left on the Vine

Vegetables such as cucumbers, melons, squash, and tomatoes should be
left on the vine until they are overripe, for best results. Then separate
the seeds from the pulp; wash them thoroughly until clean. Dry in the
sun.

Some gardeners consider best results with Italian tomatoes come from
placing the overripe tomatoes under hay mulch in the spots in your garden
where you want them to grow the following year. Then when spring arrives,
protect the seedlings until the danger of the last frost has passed.

Let seed peppers ripen thoroughly before being picked. Sweet and hot
peppers will cross, so these plants should be separated by at least
1/2 feet if you're growing them from seed.

Seeds from Herbs

Many herbs seed readily. It generally saves you money if you grow your
own, for herb seeds are fairly expensive for the few you need to grow
a small number of plants. With dill, fennel, parsley, chives, and those
with noticeably large seed heads, you keep checking the heads and cut
them just as the seeds are getting ready to scatter.

Then place them in paper bags and let them dry thoroughly before you
store them.

Flower Seeds

French marigolds have seeds that are easy to harvest. Pick the flower
heads when they are beginning to fade. Then dry the flowers and pull
them apart when completely dried. One flower should produce enough seeds
for your whole bed of marigolds.

Others with individual flowers, like nasturtiums, should be harvested
when the flowers fade and seeds form. Dry them a few days before storing.

Packaging & Storing

Make sure you label all the seeds you harvest so you know what you
have come planting time. Store them in sealed cans or jars or sealed
packets when thoroughly dried.

Keep them in a dry, cool place. Check seeds such as pumpkin, melon,
and squash to make sure they aren't being mildewed.

Mary Emma Allen's books, available by contacting the author/illustrator
at me.allen@juno.com or visiting her web site where you'll find further
description and an order form: http//homepage.fcgnetworks.net/jetent/mea

2. Tales of Adventure & Discovery Coloring Book, containing illustrations
and excerpts from the anthology, by Mary Emma Allen, published by MEA
Productions; $1.95 plus postage, or $1.00 when purchased with the anthology.

3. When We Become the Parent to Our Parents, the chronicle of her mother's
journey through Alzheimer's, written/illustrated by Mary Emma Allen,
MEA Productions; $9.95 plus postage.

4. Writing in Maine, New Hampshire & Vermont, a resource book for
writers, publishers, librarians, and teachers, written by Mary Emma
Allen, published by Writer's World Press. Regularly $16.95 plus postage,
now $9.95 plus postage. (The publisher is celebrating their 10th anniversary
and offering specials on their books.)

5. The Magic of Patchwork, the story of quiltmaking with directions
for beginners' projects, written/illustrated by Mary Emma Allen, published
by MEA Productions; $8.00 plus postage.